Gloves are off between ‘costly’ Congress, ‘liar’ BJP (Political Prattle)

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) Gloves are off as the campaign for the Delhi assembly elections enters the final leg. After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeted the ruling Congress with advertisements with catch-line “Mehengi Padi Congress”, the Congress has paid it back in the same coin, saying “Jhoothi Padi BJP”.“In its poll advertisement drawing comparison between rates of vegetables and food items during the BJP rule and the Congress rule in Delhi, the opposition has given manipulated data,” Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said Wednesday.

To prove his point, he waved the rate list of vegetables and fruits being sold at Safal, the outlets where they are sold at reasonable costs.

To stress his point, Sibal said he purchased all these items Wednesday and matched the prices with what the BJP was stating in its advertisement campaigns.

“The BJP has provided the wholesale rates of commodities during its rule from 1993 to 1998, but has given retail rates during the Congress regime,” Sibal said.

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Congress smells rat as Mayawati draws huge crowds

Has the BJP played a hand in drawing huge crowds at Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati’s election rallies in Delhi? Ask the Congress party.

The Congress thinks that it is the BJP workers who are making Mayawati’s rally look “crowded.”

“Several BJP workers are attending Mayawati’s rallies as BJP and BSP have forged an alliance to defeat the Congress,” Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said Wednesday.

Or it could be that the large crowds Mayawati attracted to her two rallies in Delhi could have left the Congress in a tizzy.

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Modi magic in Delhi

The BJP’s policies and promises may not interest Delhi’ites but the way people waited for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at one of his public meetings late Tuesday said a lot about people’s curiosity about him.

Known for his fiery speeches, Modi started his campaign Tuesday with a public meeting at Greater Kailash, the assembly constituency of BJP’s chief ministerial candidate V.K. Malhotra.

Before that, Modi was to address a meeting at Mandir Marg in the New Delhi constituency, from where Vijay Jolly (BJP) is fighting against Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit (Congress).

But as police denied permission for the trally and his flight got delayed, he went directly to Greater Kailash.

For people waiting to hear him at Mandir Marg for close to three hours in the cold winter evening, it was disappointing when Jolly announced Modi was not coming. There were a few disgruntled voices as well.

Some were heard saying that they could care little for any BJP candidate but had just come to just see and hear Modi.

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Three children lost and found at Mayawati’s rally

While BSP leader Mayawati kept an eager crowd waiting for more than three hours Wednesday, for three children and their parents it was a harrowing time.

As thousands of people came to hear the Uttar Pradesh chief minister speak at Sultanpuri in northwest Delhi, the three children got separated from their parents. As there was complete chaos at the venue, the parents found it difficult to trace them.

Thankfully, there were two podiums - while one was used by the BSP leaders waiting for ‘behenji’ and who could not be bothered about the missing children, the other one was to make announcements and for artists singing praises of Mayawati and of her party. It was to this podium that the parents turned.

As news spread that the children, each of them below 10 years, had gone missing, announcements were made over the public address system to trace them. It paid. Someone brought one child to the stage and one of the artists raised the child on his shoulder so that the parents could see him.

For the remaining two, announcements went on till minutes before Mayawati’s arrival. As the two were also found, a collective sigh of relief could be heard from the crowd and the crying children were reunited with their parents.